Can You Tell If Someone Is Wearing Dentures?

Loose dentures can make it obvious that you are wearing dentures. However, if you have dentures that are professionally made, you clean them regularly, and they fit well, no one should be able to tell that you are wearing dentures.

Thanks to the ongoing advances in medical technology, including complete or partial dentures and dental implants, you may not be able to easily tell if someone is wearing false teeth.

There are several reasons for this; however, there are times where it may be quite obvious that you are speaking to someone who has dentures. Generally speaking though, you should not be able to easily identify false teeth wearers, but this isn’t always the case.

Do Dentures Change Your Appearance?

The good news for someone who wears false teeth is that there is generally an improvement in their appearance. For example, broken, chipped, missing or rotting teeth can be replaced completely by a dental appliance that will give you a perfect smile.

Depending on how many teeth were replaced by dentures, your face will fill out slightly as your mouth and cheeks will have sunk in a little without teeth to hold them in place.

What Does It Feel Like To Wear Dentures?

Ideally, false teeth should not feel foreign in your mouth. That is because if they were properly made, the plates holding the false teeth would have been molded to perfectly match the shape of your jaw and gum line.

For a first-time denture wearer, it may take a bit of adjustment but false teeth are intended to be a replacement of your natural teeth so they should not feel uncomfortable or make speaking or eating difficult.

For tips on eating with dentures, please click here.

Can You Tell If Someone Has Dentures When You Kiss Them?

When you are very close to someone with dentures you may be able to tell if you are able to see clips or other attachments around certain teeth. If the color of the teeth doesn’t all match, or if a partial denture plate slips out of position when kissing, you’ll know.

Many denture wearers have stories related to these incidents but if the false teeth fit properly and are natural-looking dentures, you may not be able to tell while kissing someone with false teeth.

How To Tell If Someone Has Veneers

The challenge of wearing false teeth is having dentures that look real. Again, thanks to the technological advancements that have been made in modern dentistry, this is no longer an issue.

However, the care and maintenance of dentures have a lot to do with their overall appearance. With veneers, they should not be obvious unless stained by foods and beverages or have not been cleaned on a regular basis making them appear different to nearby teeth.

Sometimes, veneers just do not look right – they can appear bigger and make your teeth stand out. But this is dependent on the veneers and the workmanship of the dentist and is not always an issue.

Signs To Look For To Identify Someone With False Teeth

Can dentures look natural? Yes, they can but their appearance may not be what tips you off to who is or isn’t wearing false teeth. Here is a shortlist of possible signs to watch for:

1. General Appearance of Teeth

If the person you know suddenly has cleaner, whiter teeth with fewer signs of decay or staining than before, they could be wearing false teeth. Or, they may have also just had some teeth whitening done.

However, if the person with the perfect smile was missing teeth just weeks ago, they are now sporting a new set of complete or partial dentures or possibly dental implants.

2. How the Teeth Line Up

The lengths of the teeth in the top row can be a sign. If they are all the same length and as a result form a perfect line at the bottom of all the top teeth, you could be looking at dentures.

Natural teeth are not normally the same length and are often imperfect in places that do not form a perfect line along the bottom of the row of teeth.

3. Difference in Speech

If you listen carefully to how this person speaks, you may be able to detect a slight lisp. This is a fairly common occurrence in someone who has just started wearing false teeth and their mouth and tongue are still getting used to having the dental plates in place.

Over time the lisp will disappear, and you may not be able to tell from speech alone.

4. Eating

The way in which we eat and use our teeth to tear at food can be a dead giveaway if you compare a person with false teeth to one with natural teeth. If you do not have dentures you are likely to bite and tear food away from its source because your teeth are secure in your mouth. Denture wearers may not as readily do this unless they have dental implants.

5. Food Choices

The types of foods we eat may give you a clue as to whether or not someone has false teeth. Sticky, hard-to-chew foods are normally off the menu for denture wearers as a way to avoid having false teeth slip out of place.

Even with the best denture adhesives on the market, the risk is still present and may cause a denture wearer to shy away from some foods.

In Conclusion

As you can see, there is no single way to clearly identify if someone has false teeth… That is, provided they are a proper fit and match existing teeth. Loose dentures are not only painful to wear because of the mouth irritations they can develop over time, but they just don’t look good. So it is important to have a correctly fitting denture.

When you have a dental appliance professionally made and you clean it regularly, no one should be able to tell that you have dentures. Regardless of what foods you eat, how you speak, or smile, when other people see your natural-looking dentures, it should not be obvious that you are wearing false teeth and you can enjoy life without worrying about what people think.